In a press release announcing amendments to the state’s Open Meetings Law, the New York State Senate mentions the work of the New York Coalition for Open Government, which has reported widespread failure of local governments to post meeting documents online.
“A recent study by the New York Coalition for Open Government (“Local Governments Struggle with Timely Posting of Meeting Minutes“) found that many local governments across New York State fail to live up to the spirit of the State’s Open Meetings Law by restricting citizens’ right to access information from public institutions,” the press release said. “Notably, the study found that 20% of the local governments surveyed failed to post their full meeting documents online for the public to see before their meeting, and 70% failed to post minutes from their meetings in a timely fashion.”